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I just bought my first Hydrostream. It's a 88 vector with a merc 200. I took it out for the first time and it was taking on water. I pulled the carpet back and ripped up the back part of the floor and my core is bad. So it's rebuild time. I want to go ahead and redo core transom and stringer. What is everyone going with or recomend as far as materials? Core-balsa or foam? Transom- two pieces of pressure treated plywood glasses together? Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated. It will be a project for me and my dad who is very experienced in fiberglass. I will be posting pics of the build once I am able to. Thank you

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The Vector is my favorite Hydrostream - good looking boat I see from the other thread you posted.
As for materials, a lot (most) people go back with balsa core. I would use something else (synthetic). Factory balsa boats seem to universally rot and who knows when that process starts. It doesn't take long once water is introduced.

As for transom, I'm not positive but I think they may be an issue with polyester resin bonding to the PT. I think the best thing to use would be high quality marine plywood (lots of layers, no voids and waterproof glue). They make other synthetic material too suitable for transoms, but I don't have any experience with them directly. My father has a Larson outboard boat that is made without any wood. He bought it new 15 years ago and it's holding up very well.

Good luck with the project and keep the pics coming! -Chris

Thanks Chris! Yea a have been non stop on here reading other people's projects and they seem to use both. I think I'm going to go with something synthetic. I will be tied up this weekend but next weekend I will be getting after it. I will hopefully have the motor off tomorrow and build my jig next weekend and start gutting the boat. I will keep the progress pictures on here. Thanks for the help

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I've been running a balsa core test in my boat since 1983. When it shows signs of saturation or failure, I'll post my finding here. If you can't wait for the results or require a longer lasting material I would recommend synthetic.

transomstad, you must have done a great job at vacuum-bagging! Polyester is relatively porous, isn't it? I have read that that hull blisters on gelcoat is a result of polyester resign chemist designing a less-permeable material. Water still seeps through, but it now has a harder time "leaving" (thus the blisters). My point being that even a perfectly sealed balsa core (and assuming no stress cracks develop) is subject to moisture intrusion. If you can (and it sounds like you personally did) completely impregnate the pores of the balsa with resin, then you have a very long-lasting material. It just seems that more often that not, the wood starts to go.

Never even heard of bagging back in those days. Hand laid, resin rich. A very heavy layup on the inner skin as advised by Hydrostream because warranty claims for broken hulls were increasing with more people installing V-6's, the pad area needed more beef.

Agreed that epoxy is stronger than poly and more waterproof but the knock on poly has turned to hysteria in my opinion. Any dope with limited skills can do an excellent repair with very basic materials and good attention to detail that will last far longer than most people will own the boat.